When cops arrived, Travis tore off a police cruiser's side mirror and opened the door, prompting a cornered cop to open fire on the burly ape.

The bleeding chimp staggered back into the house and died.

"I don't blame the cop for what he did," [chimp owner Sandy] Herold said. "It's a tragedy on both sides."

Sooooo.... she's mourning the chimp.

The attack stunned Herold's friends and neighbors - and even left actress Morgan Fairchild, who once appeared alongside Travis in an Old Navy ad, devastated.

"This is not at all the personality I worked with," Fairchild told the Daily News. "It was like having a very bright child on the set that wanted to be a part of everything. He was just an amiable little guy, friendly and just loved to be the center of attention."

Oh! Morgan Fairchild is devastated. He was just an amiable little guy, friendly and just loved to be the center of attention. Well, then, he sure got what he loved.

Here's a news clip about the attack that reveals that Herold's chimpanzee-keeping was not illegal in Connecticut. While the laws had been tightened up, Herold's chimpanzee, having grown up in Stamford, was grandfathered in.

IN THE COMMENTS: Michael H wrote:

He was just an amiable little guy, friendly and just loved to be the center of attention.

This is (sort of) a part of the re-barnyardization of the suburbs, as in Boston:

"Suburbanites who own farm animals steer conversations about their pets to intangible benefits, such as peace of mind, and a stronger connection to the earth and to the region's rural past. Owning a chicken or donkey just feels different from owning a dog or a cat, they say, in part due to their relative positions in the food chain.

"Both dogs and cats are predators," McGoldrick said. [He owns a brown Nigerian dwarf 'pet' goat, Bambi.] "These animals are on the other side of the whole predator-prey thing. They are so gentle and so comforting. How did Gandhi put it? Our humanity is measured by the way which we treat the most vulnerable," he said, paraphrasing the renowned Indian pacifist."

And here's a website specifically devoted to the laws governing the keeping of chickens in various U.S. cities. I may keep up to 10 chickens in my town, after paying a permit fee, of course.

On the other hand, there's something to be said for it. When my grandparents wanted chicken for dinner, they (or a cook) went into the yard and wrung one's neck. Watched it run around. Children watched. Useful educational tool.

"As with all benzodiazepines, paradoxical reactions such as stimulation, agitation, rage, increased muscle spasticity, sleep disturbances, hallucinations and other adverse behavioral effects may occur in rare instances and in a random fashion. Should these occur, use of the drug should be discontinued."

The University of Wisconsin is home to some of the world's top primatologists. I worked at the the Wisconsin Regional Primate Center for three years as an undergrad and I did take a couple of courses.

I had an excellent professor who had worked with Dian Fossy and had also observed adult chimps for years. He warned us a number of times that adult chimps were extremely dangerous and that they belonged in the wild.

As I recall, adult chimpanzees have 5 times the strength of a human. They are completely unpredictable. The only chimps you see in movies and on TV are pre-adolescent. After less than ten years or so, the trained animals are usually quietly shipped off to Zoos and labs because they can no longer be kept in normal cages, but instead need to be kept in special enclosures.

"Fairchild went on to say that though Travis was very docile, chimpanzees in the entertainment industry have a long history predatory behavior towards humans."Sparkles, the chimp who played Bonzo, stalked his co-star, Ronald Reagan, for years. At one point the former president had a restraining order against him, after he destroyed Angie Dickenson's trailer during the filming of "The Killers".

Sparkles was killed in 1981, when the detonator in an improvised explosive banana he apparently intended to use against the president was activated by the microwave oven in a nearby 7-11".

Your wolf may love you, but you can't trust him around your guests, as Vicki Hearne put it.

A dog you can trust. Those we call domesticated.

A good trainer can move quite a distance towards the wild animal and get along fine, but the ordinary plodding around human isn't that atuned to what's going on and is likely to stumble across some tripwire in the animal's space eventually.

Travis the Beast evolved in in Jungle where the rule was that the fittest eat first and ask questions later. So the way Travis treated these weak and helpless women really did show his Humanity. Animals For The Ethical Treatment of People will have to raise Chimp Awareness that eating humans is a cruel... oh yeah, that's why they do it. Looks like concealed carry with 45 cal ammo is always the only solution that works here for both women and policeman who otherwise would have been his Lunch Special. Predators just hate it when the Lunch Special is tragically armed. Query: did this innocent, until proven guilty, alleged attacker, get Due Process of Law? He could easily have resumed his cute little guy act in front of the jury and got off on self defense or his right to use violence against those who stole him from his home in Africa?

The woman is a kookaroo. She was on TV a moment ago and her main concern seems to be that people don't hate her for stabbing the chimp or for the police shooting it (on the 911 tape she is begging cops to kill it because he is eating her friend and she's next).

She said somthing along the lines of, "I stabbed him and he looked at me like, Mom, what are you doing?"

Mom?

Kookaroo.

As the dog whisperer would say, "You are treating as human. This is not human."

When Morgan Fairchild finally loses it at the monkey house, and has to be shot by the chimp cop, will we see a tearful Tori Spelling, saying "She was not like this on Dallas when she worked for daddy!"?

Put me down as feeling very strongly that the killing of the chimpanzee was tragic because it became necessary due to the stupidity of the people around it.

FWIW, the killing of any animal approximately as intelligent as a chimpanzee makes me extremely uneasy. I'm no Gaia worshipper, but I strive to eat dolphin-safe tuna precisely because the thought of dolphins being killed by tuna fishing nets makes me positively sick to my stomach. Tuna, on the other hand, are very tasty.

A 200 pound chimpanzee can take apart a 300 pound pro football player, and scarcely notice he's done it. Brian, please correct me if I'm wrong, but what's supposed to look like a chimpanzee's smile is actually an aggression display.

In the sequel to "Jurassic Park" Dr. Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum's character) says something about at first it's all cuteness, later on comes the screaming and dying. I couldn't find that quote, but the following seems appropriate:

Dr. Malcolm: Did you find him? Roland Tembo: Just the parts they didn't like.

I think Fairchild's reaction illustrates the problem humans have with anthropomorphization. I don't doubt that Travis was indeed "an amiable" animal. Problem is, what he did to the woman was also very much part of his makeup. This isn't an aberrant act; rather, it's entirely conceivable once you remember that the attacker is, after all, only a chimpanzee that's evolved over the millenia to survive among other wild animals. Both sides of Travis's nature exist, and it's only the human constructs of "friendly" and "destructive" that makes this situation seem out of the ordinary. Fact is, any chimp is capable of being nice and adorable one minute, and lethal the next. It's simply the way nature evolved them.

Too many people are too often not in tune with nature. Hell, I'm not, that's for certain. But at least I realize that the cute, furry racoon has the ability to seriously injure you if he wants to. Ditto the funny, rolicking chimpanzee. Our concepts of morality aren't even comprehended by lower animals, let alone other human characteristics. But for some odd reason, we try to project those onto animals, when in fact, they have their own reasons for why they do things.

As an example of the dissonance of human anthropomorphization: It always cracks me up how dolphins are portrayed by us non-scientists. Even I occasionally fall into that mindset. Dolphins are cute, fun-loving creatures, right? After all, they gave us that rousing musical number So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish. But we forget, they're survivors in an ocean with sharks and orca, and they thrive in harsh circumstances. I recall a televised experiment (on Discovery? Animal Planet?) where a team demonstrated that Australian Great Whites were intimidated by the presence of a fake dolphin. Sharks are thought of as the ultimate predators of the seas, but they respect dolphins. What does that tell you? That cute, fun-loving creature has instincts we don't seem to want to take into account when we latch onto our popular, social images of those creatures. We only think of the hoop-jumping and fish-begging.

And that rounds back to Travis, the chimp here. Morgan Fairchild is latching onto her image of the cute creature she worked with once. And that's fair in a sense: It's the only side of Travis she ever got to see back then. But as I said above, there are other sides to him, and not all of them are amiable. And that has nothing to do with morality. Rather, it's just the imperative of survivial that doesn't go away just because a human gave him a home and made him live among us.

Call me cold, but had one of our beloved dogs, or even my beloved cat when he was alive, gone for my kid's, or an kid's, face I'd have put him down that down, and without guilt. Which is something I made clear to my husband before we had kids.

But then, I was attacked and mauled by a German Shepherd as a small child--dragged around by my head, in fact (resulting in scores of stitches and three plastic surgeries before I entered school). I can't even begin to understand what that poor woman, the victim, went through and is going through. Can't even begin.

Anyway, my lines with regard to any story, any situation like this are bright, clear, strong and unequivocal. And while I love animals, I'm notably unromantic about them in certain key ways.

Put me down as feeling very strongly that the killing of the chimpanzee was tragic because it became necessary due to the stupidity of the people around it.

Bingo. It's not like the chimp had any clue as to what he was doing was right or wrong. He was just an animal doing what animals do. It's the stupid humans who put him and themselves in an untenable situation. So yeah, I do feel sorry for the critter.

Tibore...You come dangerously close to categorizing animals apart from humans (descendants of Adam in scripture). Does this mean Humans have Dominion over all animals? That will be a fresh way to see the world for many Mentally Ill persons working out their love/hate emotions thru animals. The Truth will set you free, and you will be dis-ilusioned,i.e.,you will lose your illusions.Thanks.

This isn't quite a sign of anthropomorphization, but it is a loud-and-clear indication of intellectual disconnect: Anyone see PETA's "Sea Kitten" campaign?

Fish ≠ feline. Superimposing a human construct does not change the reality of the animal. But that doesn't seem to give the PETA folks pause. They're probably mourning Travis over the injured woman as well, because they're demonstrating the same blind spots we've all been discussing in this thread. It's just in their case, they're going out of their way to demonstrate it.

The lady shouldn't have owned a chimp. That said, I don't feel too bad for the chimp being in an inappropriate environment. I don't have a huge amount of empathy for wild animals that rend people to pieces. Why should I? Up with people and all that.

As one who believes PETA stands for People Eating Tasty animals, I would not belittle the woman for regrets about the chimp. It had been an important part of her life and was a creature with a personality, one she knew well. Putting aside whether she should have had the animal to begin with, I think the owner hit the right tone. She agreed with what had to be done and her first concern was for the human victim, but she also regretted what was necessary. Even I regret what was necessary, and I've never seen a chimp outside a zoo.

What's the opposite of xenophobia? Shouldn't there be some pejorative term for people who have a pathological trust in peoples and creatures that are strange and different?....Jane Goodall when she lived in the wild among chimpanzees witnessed a chimp mother kill the babies of other chimps. The killer than fed the bodies to her own children. Ms Goodall fell into a profound depression after witnessing this. She had romanticized the chimps as some kind of noble savages....I suppose that even as the emotions of chimps can cause them to go ape, the affections of humans can cause them to go sentimental.

Call me cold, but had one of our beloved dogs, or even my beloved cat when he was alive, gone for my kid's, or an kid's, face I'd have put him down that down, and without guilt.

I agree with you to an extent, especially about a dog (I’ve never understood why people have mean tempered dogs), but I put cats in kind of a different category. With the exception of a baby (I would not leave a cat where it could get to a baby), I think children should be taught to respect the fact that animals are not like us. That if you pull the cats tail, it might bite you. That’s not the cat’s fault. (exceptions for especially ill tempered cats). Hell, maybe if this lady had been scratched by a cat in childhood or bitten by a dog she would have known better than to keep a 200 pound chimp in her house.

Freeman, as I wrote yesterday a chimpanzee's intelligence is entirely alien from ours. A chimp does some things that we call intelligent, but Jane Goodall found chimpanzees doing things that we might not call intelligent, but which moved the particular animal up the pecking order. To the extent that a chimpanzee has a moral code of any sort, it would be entirely unrecognizable to members of our genus as such.

In his books about his dogs Jon Katz makes a similar point about canine intelligence.

And lighten up traditionalguy. It's pretty well established that Barack Obama had essentially no input to the stimulus bill (so named because it is intended to stimulate contributions to the Democrat party, not because it will stimulate the economy). So the cartoon mocks Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd, etc., none of whom are Black.

Tibore wrote, Too many people are too often not in tune with nature. Hell, I'm not, that's for certain.

I don't try to be in tune with nature. I try to ensure nature is in tune with me. That's how mankind has thrived.

Freeman Hunt sensibly wrote, I should add that I don't see how arguing that the animal is both amoral and extremely intelligent should make me care about it more. That only makes it sound more monstrous.

blake, I'm certain that the "dolphins" mentioned in the old cookbooks you reference are the fish called "mahi-mahi" today.

The mammalian dolphins spend all day long swimming around the ocean, eating, and copulating. They have no police or court system, no kletocracy, work for no bosses, pay no taxes. And you think we're smarter than they are?

Chimps are dangerous animals. They are a lot stronger per pound than a human is. Also the males especially, as they mature, have a higher level of testosterone than a human would. Humans pay the price for the long maturation process in that we never get a "mature" muscular system similar to that of a chimps. An adult chimp is a 'roid rage accident waiting to happen. If you are a mail they tend to rip your groin apart first.

"That said, I don't feel too bad for the chimp being in an inappropriate environment. I don't have a huge amount of empathy for wild animals that rend people to pieces. Why should I? Up with people and all that."

blake: Last I heard, dolphins are about as smart as dogs, which would make them less smart than tasty, tasty pigs.

I would only call your attention to this, while acknowledging that the question is a complex one upon which no scientific consensus apparently exists, due at least in part to our lack of clear definitions of "intelligence."

Chimps are just like people: They get ornier as they get older. Something set him off and he acted out. If he hadn't attacked the cop he probably woule have calmed down eventually and allowed himselt to be captured. Don't ever get complacent around a chimp: a young one is strong enough to rip your arm off if he spooks.

Really, just like many other people here, the lesson that I take away from this is: Nature ("cute widdle animals!") + People = Peopleburgers. It should be an article of faith among anyone who deals with wild animals that they are totally unpredictable. Like the old stock market CYA disclaimer - "Past performance is no guarantee of not being eaten the future."

Now, to hijack the thread...Paul Snively, from the 9:00 am-ish comment, are you the same Paul who is the crazed Luther theologian who used to have CleverAcquaintances? If so, I need to call you...

Our culture is rife with morosophs who are entirely clueless about the natural world. I started at UCONN on my last day of active duty and had to endure endless undergrads mewling about nature and the need to get back to it. Having spent some months in nature, away from such things as power, water, food, heat, toilet paper, the rule of law and polite society, I can tell you, we are better off on this side of the fence.The Treadways and Nashs of the world think they can frolic in the autumn mist with wild animals without consequence. Beware such people, they'll get you eaten or at least get your face and fingers gnawed off.

If I had an animal who attacked one of my friends or family members, I'd have it put down and I don't think I would feel bad about that at all. I can't see my anger at the animal and remorse for the victim making room for missing companionship or anything else like that.

And ditto whoever said one shouldn't keep a pet one couldn't best physically if one had to.

I cannot figure out how that woman got to the age she is and did not realize that you can't keep an adult chimpanzee as a pet. I BEEN knowing that. But then, I had Steve Irwin tagged as an idiot long before the stingray did. Nature, red in tooth and claw, you know? The world is not a theme park.

doofus: Now, to hijack the thread...Paul Snively, from the 9:00 am-ish comment, are you the same Paul who is the crazed Luther theologian who used to have CleverAcquaintances? If so, I need to call you...

Uh... it wasn't me. You can't prove a thing! I wasn't even there! It was Karlstadt... no, wait... Melancthon...

blake, I'm certain that the "dolphins" mentioned in the old cookbooks you reference are the fish called "mahi-mahi" today.

Hmmmmm. So what's all this about "Blowhole Parmesean"?

The mammalian dolphins spend all day long swimming around the ocean, eating, and copulating. They have no police or court system, no kletocracy, work for no bosses, pay no taxes. And you think we're smarter than they are?

I would only call your attention to this, while acknowledging that the question is a complex one upon which no scientific consensus apparently exists, due at least in part to our lack of clear definitions of "intelligence."

Paul, your link includes a "top 10" list that puts squirrels at the top.

"Skyler said... Tibore wrote, Too many people are too often not in tune with nature. Hell, I'm not, that's for certain.

I don't try to be in tune with nature. I try to ensure nature is in tune with me. That's how mankind has thrived."

Maybe that was a bad way of putting it. I sort of meant "attuned", not "living in harmony" or "living less like a human". What I was trying to get across was that people misunderstand nature as well as wild and undomesticated animals. There's this lack of comprehension that many of our human values are simply not applicable to non-humans. A person strangling someone is murder, but a python doing it is simply trying to eat.

Anyone recall Ernst Blofeld's post from 2006? It's a good example of what I mean about someone substituting value judgements that's out of place.

"I used to work with some crusty old former Marine NCOs. We also had a sweet little 19-year old girl working as a secretary straight out of high school.

One day they were eating their lunch outside near a field that had been overrun by rabbits. A few of them took the lettuce off their sandwich and tossed it out on the ground. The cute little fluffy bunnies hopped up, sniffed the lettuce, and started nibbling on it. The secretary thought this was cute.

All of the sudden, out of the clear blue sky, a hawk swooped down, seized the bunny in its talons, and flew off. The bunny gave a little screech before becoming bunny sushi back at the hawk's nest.

The girl was horrified. "Did you see that? The hawk grabbed that cute rabbit while we were feeding it!"

The crusty former Marine NCOs looked at each other. Finally one said "We weren't feeding the rabbits. We were feeding the hawks."

So, Ann, perhaps if you could put some lettuce out in the open and let nature take its course. Hawks have to eat, too."

The "crusty Marine NCO's" had a better grip on nature than the "sweet little 19-year old girl" did. And that exemplifies what I meant by being "in tune with nature".

Wouldn't it be weird if the woman woke up from having face transplant surgery, and saw that the only donor face available came from the chimp? Everybody's got somethin to hide, except for me and my monkey - face.

I owe Tibore a huge apology, because I screwed up. Actually, three: First, for reading too quickly initially; second, for responding in comment before re-checking; and third, for taking an embarrassingly, almost inexcusably (in my terms, by my standards) long time to notice what I did. Did wrong.

Tibore, I am sorry. I directed to you, specifically, a response that belonged elsewhere (to the comment just after yours). I did not double-check; I did not proof; and I left it just hanging there, for hours.

If you were around for all that time, or even checked in during that time and said nothing, well, all I can say is: You are more temperate than I. For which I'm grateful.

Again: I am sorry; there's no excuse, especially given your ACTUAL comment just previous to the one I objected.